Swansea sex workers say they are being 'raped, robbed and attacked'
Sky News joined officers working on Operation Jaeger, which aims to help women find support upon leaving the sex industry.
Friday 2 August 2019 11:19, UK
Sex workers in Swansea say they are being "raped, robbed and attacked" - and are calling for more help from police.
Sky News has exclusively joined officers from South Wales Police working on Operation Jaeger.
Launched in April, it aims to help women find support to leave sex work - but police say those who repeatedly refuse assistance are likely to face prosecution.
Police in Swansea say they are aware of at least 100 sex workers in the city - some selling sex for as little as £5.
One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told us that although police try to help, they're not always there for them.
She said: "Nothing against the police officers, nothing like that, they're here to help us and get us out of danger, but when we are in danger they're not there to help us, when we need them they're not there but when we don't need them they're there."
When I asked what sort of dangers they face, she added: "Girls are getting raped, girls getting attacked, girls getting robbed and the working girls are robbing the working girls."
She told me: "Something happened last night, a girl got robbed because basically she earned more money than another girl.
"She's getting robbed and got to put money down her knickers and all that - it's not fair, it's wrong, it's disgusting then the police are not there then to help them then."
What has exacerbated the problem in Swansea is the fact sex workers operate on the high street - side by side with shops and commuters.
In some cases they take clients to alleyways outside a school and a dance academy - with used condoms and needles littered on the ground.
Deputy Inspector Andrew Hedley takes us down an overgrown grass slope next to the dance academy.
There is sex and drug paraphernalia everywhere.
DI Hedley explains: "This is where they are spending that money they are gaining from kerb crawlers in their activities.
"They're using it on drugs and they're coming to places like this. Granted this is out of the way, however, potentially it's exposing them to further danger because they are out of the way, if something happens regarding an overdose, then no one is going to get to them or know they are here."
Prostitution in Great Britain is not illegal, but soliciting on the street and kerb-crawling is.
Operation Jaeger involves police issuing sex workers on the streets with Section 35 orders - meaning they have to leave the area for the next 12 hours.
Officers are equally targeting kerb-crawlers.
Around 40 S35 orders have been handed out since the operation began.
But some of those have been given to the same women, which raises the question as to whether the approach is working.
DI Hedley said: "Ultimately they could be prosecuted.
"We're at the stage where we're still gathering intelligence and working with other agencies through our partnership to divert the girls out of that sex working."
He added: "Our ultimate aim is to divert the girls out of this sex working but at the same time letting them know - and letting people who exploit the services know - that we won't tolerate the behaviour and criminal activity ongoing because it has the adverse effect on the local residents and community as a whole."
The operation began after calls for action from businesses and residents in Swansea, concerned about the impact the sex work and drug taking was having on the high street.
Gareth Jones runs a corner shop opposite Swansea train station - and says many of the sex workers have stolen good from his store.
He explains: "There are threats, many a day, made to staff. Customers are sometimes afraid to walk past day and night…it's just a never end circle to be honest."
Twice a week Swansea Women's Aid park a van on Swansea High Street to offer food and support to the working women.
The charity's CEO Lynne Sanders told Sky News that although they welcome the police help - there are questions over the methods behind Operation Jaeger.
She said: "From a police point of a view it isn't stopping them street sex working in that area.
"But to expect very chaotic, very vulnerable women, to necessarily take on board a section 35 order isn't very viable really."
She added: "None of the women want to sex work. It isn't their chosen form of occupation."
When I asked about the threat of prosecution if the sex workers continue to refuse help, Ms Sanders continued: "I don't think prosecuting them is the answer, because basically you're talking about a fine. You're talking about women with no income really - very, very low income - so in order to pay that fine, what are they going to do? They're going to sex work."
Swansea's sex worker problem is by no means unique.
Across the UK, police forces are trialling different methods to manage sex workers and keep them safe.
In Leeds, a large scale review has just begun into a controversial safe zone, where women can work freely in a certain part of the city between certain hours.
The sex worker who spoke to Sky News said she knows locals don't want her and other women working around the high street - but insists any solution lies in more help from police and other agencies: "What we need is to obviously stop all the girls working…and that's it really. 100% we need more help, more than anything, especially with the working girls.
"If the police want us off the street then help us."